𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐄 𝐃𝐄 𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐑𝐄, c.d.

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE | SNITCHES GET STITCHES
The boys and Cove sat around a cluttered room waiting as Charlie lit a cigarette, offering the first drag to Cove. The girl shook her head, keeping her arms wrapped around herself as she thought about everything that could keep going wrong.

"You told him about this meeting?" Cove tuned her friends out, trying to figure out what went wrong for Neil. She understood that the boy had a difficult relationship with his parents but she always offered him someone to talk to.

"Twice." In the end, Cove understood that sometimes it's just too unbearable.

"That's it, guys. We're all fried."

"How do you mean?" Charlie moved closer to Cove, placing his hand on her shoulder, the girl placing her hand on top of his.

"Cameron's a fink. He's in Nolan's office right now, finking." Pitts looked at Charlie, confusion in his voice as he asked what he meant.

"He's a snitch, Pitsie. He doesn't care about any of us and will say whatever he has to to save his own ass." Charlie nodded his hand in agreement as Cove ran her free hand through her hair, trying not to stress herself out.

"Snitch about what?"

"The club, Pitsie. Think about it. The board of directors, the trustees and Mr. Nolan. Do you think for one moment they're gonna let this thing just blow over? Schools go down because of things like this. They need a scapegoat. If they can blame a bunch of kids and their English teacher, they will. Anything to save their butts." The door opened and all the boys except Charlie hurry to put their cigarettes out, waving the smoke away. Cove and Charlie just stood there as the light flickered on, Cameron coming into the room.

"What's going on, guys?" Cove looked up to see the red head playing with his sleeves, obviously trying to hide something.

"You finked, didn't you, Cameron?" Charlie got up, approaching Cameron before tossing his cigarette away.

"Finked? I didn't know what the hell you're talking about." Cove took notice of the way Cameron couldn't even keep eye contact with Charlie. The girl quickly stood up, walking up to Cameron with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Look me in the eyes right now and tell me you didn't snitch on us." Cameron looked her in the eyes and then back down at his hands as Cove scoffed. "You god damn traitor."

"Look, in case you hadn't heard, Cove, there's something called an honor code at this school, all right? If a teacher asks you a question, you tell the truth or you're expelled." Charlie lunged at Cameron but Knox and Meeks held him back.

"Charlie!"

"He's a rat! He's in it up to his eyes, so he rattled to save himself." Cove shook her head as her brother held Charlie back, wanting nothing more than to beat Cameron to a pulp.

"Don't touch him, Charlie. You do and you're out."

"I'm out anyway!" Cove shook her head as Cameron fixed his uniform, Knox telling Charlie he didn't know that yet.

"He's right there, Charlie. And if you guys are smart, you will do exactly what I did and cooperate. They're not after us. We're the victims. Us and Neil." The Overstreet girls eyes widened as she lunged at Cameron, her fist connecting with his jaw. The room went silent, the boys trying to figure out if what they just saw was real or not.

"Don't you dare bring Neil into this." Charlie wrapped his arm around the girls waist, pulling her towards him as Cameron cupped his jaw.

"You're done, Overstreet. Say goodbye to your boyfriend now."

APOLLO SPEAKS
short little chapter